Trying to judge Cremartin this year, and where they stand as an Intermediate level team was no easy task. Victories over Aughnamullen and Emyvale, well-earned draws with Ballybay and Truagh - those results suggest a team to be reckoned with. Then there were the defeats to Corduff and Rockcorry, as well as a last-day forfeit to Truagh - these games suggest the opposite. By David Kelleghan. From the ridiculous to the sublime, there was only way to describe Cremartin this season: inconsistent. At no stage during the campaign did the Shamrocks build up a sustained run of victories in the league. The less said about the Championship the better. Not in captain Niall Flanagan's view, however. He is of the belief that these issues need to be addressed are Cremartin to start fulfiling their potential. The rich crop of young talent that has come into the side over the past number of years isn't that young anymore. Bearing that in mind, he believes it will be stand up and be counted time for Cremartin next season. " It was a poor start to the league campaign for us. I don't think the attitude was right heading into the season. We finished fifth the year before, and I think complacency creeped in. Maybe a few of the players thought we wouldn't have to do that much to reach a semi-final this year. That isn't the case in Intermediate football, it's always tough, and we found that out against Eire-Og in the first game. They completely dominated us and ended up winning by 14 points. We had a few injuries and our minor players made up a lot of the side that day, but regardless, that was far from good enough." That 2-16 to 0-7 opening day loss was a hard one to take for the Shamrocks. Football dictates there's always the next game though, and in this case it was against another newly promoted team in Aughnamullen. " After a defeat like that we knew we needed a big improvement in the next game against Aughnamullen, and thankfully we got it. We had wins over Emyvale and Donaghmoyne in the next two games; then lost to Corduff and Ballybay. That was a feature of us throughout the season - our inconsistency. At certain stages earlier in the year we were missing some of the younger players with the vocational and minor teams - Declan and Christopher Farrell, Shane Burke; Darren Bishop was out too with the U-21's. That being said, I think our season really came down to our home and away form." A detective searching for the team this year wouldn't have much trouble building up a character profile. It would have read like this: inconsistent, likely to draw games, great at home, not so great away. Cremartin's form at Shamrock Park was table-topping; unfortunately their trips away were exactly the opposite. The captain gives his insight into the reasons for this. " It's something we've really installed at the club: we don't go down without a fight at Shamrock Park. Ever since we came up to Intermediate in 2004, we have set out at the start of each year to win most if not all our home games. Win seven out of nine and that gives you 14 points, which is enough to be safe and is a good platform to push for a semi-final place. Unfortunately our away form this year was terrible. We only lost twice at home - the two Rockcorry games, the second of those ties was played at Shamrock Park because of problems with their pitch. We couldn't carry that into our away games though, and that's why we couldn't finish higher in the table. It is something we'll definitely have to address for next year." Another element of this year's campaign was the ignominy of the championship. Two games and two defeats does not make happy reading for Shamrock supporters. Niall Flanagan is in total agreement with them, as he is with the opinion that championship glory is the easiest route to senior football. " The championship didn't go well for us at all. Even though the competition holds more prestige than the league, it is by far the easier way to win promotion. Three or four good performances and you'll be in a final, whereas the league runs for months and at any one time you could have different things affecting the team - injuries, players missing, things like that. The league is much more accurate in showing where a team stands, and whether they have what it takes to be a senior side. So bearing that in mind, to go out of the championship after just two games was a real let-down, because winning the league was always going to be very difficult with teams like Truagh and Ballybay there." So having ended their involvement in the championship at the earliest possible stage, Cremartin were free to devote all their energy into the league campaign. Things didn't exactly turn out that way however. "Like last season when we lost to Rockcorry and drew with Tyholland in the final two games, we had a poor end to the campaign. The fixture list was really tough at the end of the year, and we picked up a lot of injuries. We had trouble fielding a team against Donaghmoyne; we had only 12 players there and were forced to play two of our minors, Eanna Atkinson and Stephen Bishop, as well as Gregory Flanagan, who still hadn't recovered from an eye injury he sustained earlier in the year. So to come out with a draw in that game was a good result in the circumstances. After that we had a break of six weeks until the final game against Truagh. We knew by that stage we couldn't get into the semi-final places, so there wasn't much to play for as far as we were concerned. Motivation became a problem in the camp and numbers for training started to drop; that meant when the time came for Truagh we couldn't field a team and had to forfeit. That was disappointing; a club should always fulfil its fixtures." Cremartin therefore finished in a respectable, but far from spectacular sixth place on 17 points. It wasn't exactly a vintage season for the club. That being said, had those five draws in the league been turned into victories; this year might have taken on a completely different complexion altogether. The captain gives his thoughts. "We ended up on 17 points, which was five below the semi-final places. Had we won each of those drawn games we would have been in the top four. That could easily have been the case, because I think we should have won each of those matches. Giving away silly frees and things like that cost us, and I think that's where some of our inexperience as a side showed; not being able to close out a game when we had a lead heading into the final few minutes. The best performance of the year for me was the drawn game against Truagh at Shamrock Park in June. I thought we really showed what we're capable of as a team when everyone was fit and in the right frame of mind. We had another two draws with Eire-Og and Ballybay later on in the month; again we easily could have picked up full points in those games, and they were the first and third placed teams at the end of the league." So what now for Cremartin? The Shamrocks retain a juvenile set-up and facilities enviable to most other clubs. This year their U-14 team won the Division 3 Shield final against Tyholland. Coaching that day was Niall Flanagan; someone who fully believes the club will have a bright future. Winning promotion shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for the Shamrocks next year; they more than held their own at certain stages against Truagh and Ballybay in 2008. To achieve that aim they will have to turn some of those one-point days into two, as well as finding a cure for the pronounced travel sickness of this year. Cremartin are a strong, community-based club that mean a lot to the people of the local area. It is the hope of the captain that next year the players can fulfil the expectations of these people. " The aim for next season is simple: reach the semi-finals of the league and championship, then if we can do that, anything can happen. Our season was over way too early this year, Cremartin have every chance of being in and around the top teams next season. The Harps and Tyholland coming down, and Drumhowan and Athabog moving up doesn't hold any fear for us. We have a good group of players here; if the motivation is right, and we can get the team to stay together, then I've every confidence Cremartin will have a much better 2009." Tweet

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